AVL-Ville

  • Micronations
  • Founded 2001
  • Dissolved 2002
  • Founder Joep van Lieshout

In the year 2001 Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout, realised AVL-Ville, a ‘free state’ in the port of Rotterdam with its own constitution, currency and flag. It was a utopian village, where people could live and work in an ecological, autarkic way. It was partly set up as a protest against the over-regulation of the Dutch government. After a successful and tumultuous year, AVL-Ville had to close its doors.

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Western Sahara

The Sahrawi Republic is a partially recognized state that claims the non-self-governed territory of Western Sahara, but controls only the easternmost one-fifth of it. Morocco controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory and calls these lands its Southern Provinces. The Sahrawi Republic was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on 27th February, 1976, to fill what they considered a political void left by the departing Spanish colonizers. It maintains diplomatic relations with 40 UN states and is a full member of the African Union. While the claimed capital is the former Western Sahara capital El-Aaiún, the provisional capital was formally moved to Tifariti in 2008. Day-to-day business, however, is conducted in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, which house most of the exiled Sahrawi community.

North Pole

The North Pole is the northernmost point of the earth and lies in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Contrary to Antarctica there is no landmass here, just ice sea, the Arctic Ocean. The North Pole first appeared on a map as early as 1595, but the first successful expedition was in 1926 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Officially the North Pole and the Arctic Ocean don’t belong to any country but there are claims made by at least five countries: Canada, Denmark, Norway, the United States and Russia. The area, which is now covered by shifting sea ice, is supposed to be rich in natural resources like gas and oil.

Naminara

This tiny half-moon shaped island was formed after the construction of Cheongpyeong Dam in 1944. It is named after General Nami who is buried on the island. The Naminara Republic was formed in 2006 and it declared its cultural independence from the Republic of Korea on the grounds of ‘General Nami’s natural greatness of soul’. The Republic issues its own passports, currency and phone cards. The declaration appears to be a marketing strategy to attract more visitors to the island.